Nigel Farage has insisted a Reform UK government would deliver where other parties have failed, as he set out his priorities in his annual conference speech. He said Reform's pledges for its first 100 days in power would include stopping small boat crossings, cutting energy bills by £250 a year and ending the net zero "lunacy". To eliminate "obstacles" to his plans, Farage said he would declare a "national emergency" and threatened to overhaul the House of Lords and how judges are appointed if they stood in the way.
In a speech interrupted several times by protesters, the Reform leader was also forced to address allegations over donations which emerged in an undercover investigation. Reform had been hoping to use its annual conference to regain momentum after a difficult summer dominated by questions over the party's finances. However, the main day of the conference was overshadowed after two senior party officials stepped down and Reform launched an investigation into claims about funding aired during a Channel 4 News report on Thursday evening, which was filmed by Verbatim Investigations, a group founded by journalists from the Centre for Climate Reporting.
Farage insisted "the party has done nothing wrong" and "has taken no illegal money". He claimed Reform had been "the subject of a highly co-ordinated campaign of attacks" and the allegations had been made "because they're scared of us". Farage says his aides' donor comments were 'loose pub talk' Farage unveils small boats deal with French National Rally party Reform UK promises £80bn cuts to public spending In his speech, Farage said the country needed a government "that actually delivers on its promises" and "we're the only people capable of doing it".
He argued the Tories "had 14 years in power and failed absolutely miserably", while Labour's new Prime Minister Andy Burnham "says he needs 10 years", a reference to the PM's promise to set out a 10-year plan for the country later this year. If Reform wins the next general election, Farage pledged to sack ministers who fail to deliver on their promises in their first 100 days in the job "and replace them with somebody else with the courage to do it". Setting out his plans to call a "national emergency" if Reform wins power, Farage said: "Parliament will sit, if necessary, for 24 hours a day, for six days a week until we pass the necessary legislation." He said he expected the House of Lords to "honour" Reform's policy pledges but if they refused to do so threatened to appoint hundreds of new peers so the party had a majority in the upper chamber.
"And if that proves difficult, we will hold a referendum on the current composition of the House of Lords, and they would be swept away by a British public appalled by them," he added. Identifying the judiciary as another possible "obstacle", Farage promised to remove the ability of judges to rely on conventions like the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), which critics blame for hindering some deportations. "We don't want the courts striking down, do we, the will of the people," he said.
"Parliament makes the law, judges interpret the law. We will do whatever it takes, and perhaps have to consider how judicial appointments work in the future." Meanwhile, he said civil servants who "try to obstruct us" would be removed from their posts and replaced by people from the world of business. "I'm tired of being told what can't be done," the Reform leader added.
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